Standing before a cheering chamber of Israeli lawmakers in Jerusalem on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump declared the end of what he called “a long and painful nightmare.” Moments earlier, twenty surviving hostages had been released from Gaza after more than two years in captivity, marking a dramatic turn in one of the bloodiest and most intractable conflicts in modern history.
“For so many families across this land, it has been years since you’ve known a single day of true peace,” Trump told the Knesset. “Not only for Israelis, but also for Palestinians and for many others, the long and painful nightmare is finally over.”
His words reverberated through a region still counting its dead. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 67,869 people have been killed in Israel’s military campaign since the Hamas-led assault of October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 Israelis dead and 251 taken hostage. More than half of Gaza’s casualties are women and children, according to data considered credible by the United Nations.
Monday’s release of hostages and prisoners was the most tangible sign yet that the U.S.-brokered ceasefire is holding — a fragile yet momentous pause in a war that has redrawn the political and humanitarian map of the Middle East.
Within hours of his Jerusalem address, Trump was aboard Air Force One, bound for Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. There, in the sun-baked Red Sea resort, more than two dozen heads of state and senior envoys gathered for what diplomats described as a “make-or-break” summit on Gaza’s future.
By day’s end, Trump, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani had signed a declaration of guarantees, committing their governments to monitor and uphold the ceasefire agreement.
“This is a tremendous day for the world — a tremendous day for the Middle East,” Trump said as cameras flashed. “The document is going to spell out rules and regulations and lots of other things. It’s going to hold up. It’s going to hold up.”
The declaration, a 14-page text circulated among diplomats late Monday, outlines enforcement mechanisms for the truce, humanitarian oversight for Gaza, and an agreement to reconvene within 90 days to assess progress on what Trump has called his “20-point plan for peace.”
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hamas freed the last 20 surviving hostages it had held since 2023. In return, Israel released 1,968 Palestinian prisoners, including several hundred detained on security-related charges. The exchange, negotiated through Qatari and Egyptian intermediaries, marked the largest single prisoner release in Israel’s history.
Celebrations broke out in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where families embraced the freed captives, and in Ramallah, where relatives of Palestinian detainees wept with relief.
For both societies, the moment was cathartic — a rare shared experience of joy after years of grief and fear. Yet analysts cautioned that the jubilation could prove short-lived.
“The ceasefire is a beginning, not an end,” said Lina Nassar, a regional analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Center. “There is still no agreement on disarmament, reconstruction, or political control of Gaza. Without progress on those fronts, today’s peace could quickly become tomorrow’s illusion.”
Trump’s 20-point plan — announced in September and refined through intense negotiations in Doha — envisions a multi-phase process. The first stage includes the cessation of hostilities, the hostage-prisoner exchange, and the establishment of international monitoring teams along Gaza’s borders.
Subsequent phases aim to transition administrative control of Gaza to a reformed Palestinian Authority (PA), backed by Arab states and overseen by a new international mission tentatively dubbed the Gaza Stabilization Force.
“Phase 2 has started,” Trump told reporters alongside El-Sisi. “The phases are all a little bit mixed in with each other, but it’s moving fast.”
According to U.S. officials, phase 2 involves rebuilding Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, reopening crossings for humanitarian aid, and forming an interim governing council drawn from Palestinian technocrats, not Hamas officials.
Phase 3 — still undefined — would tackle the region’s thorniest question: whether the path leads toward Palestinian statehood or stops short at a long-term autonomy arrangement.
At the summit, Egyptian President El-Sisi called the U.S. proposal the “last chance” for peace in the Middle East, urging all parties to commit to a two-state vision.
“Palestinians have the right to an independent state,” El-Sisi said, standing beside Trump and other leaders. “We must seize this moment, before it slips away like so many before it.”
In recognition of his role, El-Sisi awarded Trump Egypt’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Nile, during a ceremony broadcast live on state television.
The symbolism was potent. Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza and has historically played mediator between Israel and Palestinian factions, now finds itself at the center of a renewed regional diplomacy. “Egypt’s credibility with both sides is crucial,” said former Arab League envoy Nabil Fahmy. “Without Cairo, this deal would not exist.”
More than 20 world leaders attended the Sharm El-Sheikh summit, including King Abdullah II of Jordan, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, who represented Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Yet two notable absences underscored the summit’s limits: Israel and Hamas sent no representatives. Their positions were relayed through intermediaries from Qatar and the United Nations.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem, speaking from Gaza, urged the guarantor states to “continue monitoring Israel’s conduct and ensure it does not resume its aggression against our people.”
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Netanyahu hailed Trump as “the greatest friend Israel has ever had,” but avoided direct mention of the Palestinian statehood question. Israeli officials confirmed that while the government supports the U.S. peace framework, it remains opposed to the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian state.
“The focus now is on security and reconstruction,” an Israeli diplomat said. “Statehood is a discussion for another day.”
Even as the focus shifted to Gaza, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun used the summit to highlight his country’s precarious position. “The current sentiment in the region is one of reconciliation,” Aoun told reporters in Beirut. “But progress must not be obstructed. Israel must halt all military operations against Lebanon so that negotiations can begin.”
Trump, in his Knesset speech, praised Lebanon’s efforts to rein in armed militias and hinted at future talks on Hezbollah’s disarmament, a move that would have been unthinkable just a year ago. “Lebanon cannot be excluded from the process of resolving the region’s crises,” Trump said. “There is momentum now — momentum for peace.”
Aoun later welcomed the comments, calling them “recognition that Lebanon’s stability is essential to regional security.”
Despite the optimistic tone, fundamental disagreements persist. Hamas has refused to disarm, insisting that its weapons are a “guarantee of resistance” until full Israeli withdrawal and the lifting of the 18-year blockade on Gaza.
Israel, meanwhile, has made no formal pledge to withdraw all its forces from the territory, though a “partial redeployment” began over the weekend. Satellite imagery released by independent analysts shows armored units repositioning along Gaza’s periphery while retaining control of key buffer zones.
For the ceasefire to evolve into lasting peace, both sides must navigate these red lines. “Disarmament and withdrawal are existential issues,” said Israeli security analyst Amos Harel. “Neither side is ready to concede, but both understand the cost of returning to war.”
The scale of destruction in Gaza remains staggering. United Nations officials estimate that 80 percent of buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. Hospitals, schools, and water systems are in ruins. More than 1.5 million people are displaced.
Reconstruction, experts say, could cost upwards of $70 billion and take a decade.
The U.S. plan proposes an international reconstruction fund — initially seeded with $15 billion from Gulf states and Western donors — to rebuild critical infrastructure under U.N. supervision. Qatar and Saudi Arabia have pledged major contributions, contingent on transparency guarantees and Hamas’s exclusion from contract management.
“The world must not rebuild the ruins of war only to prepare for the next one,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who attended the summit. “Gaza’s recovery must go hand in hand with justice, accountability, and political progress.”
For Trump, whose unexpected return to the presidency has redefined U.S. foreign policy once more, the ceasefire represents a personal triumph. It revives his image as a deal-maker on the world stage and echoes the Abraham Accords he brokered during his first term.
“Trump sees this as vindication,” said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “He was criticized for his transactional approach, but he’s managed to bring the key regional players to the same table — even if only symbolically.”
Yet the stakes are enormous. If the ceasefire collapses, so too might his claim to having achieved what others could not: ending the Gaza war.
Privately, U.S. officials admit the administration is aware of the fragility. “We’ve built a framework,” one senior official said. “Now it’s up to the region to inhabit it.”
The ceasefire also reopens a deep internal rift within Palestinian politics. The U.S. plan envisages a reformed Palestinian Authority returning to govern Gaza — an idea deeply unpopular among many Palestinians who see the PA as corrupt and ineffectual.
President Mahmud Abbas, who met briefly with Trump in Sharm El-Sheikh, called the deal “a step in the right direction,” but warned that any solution must include “a clear path to full independence.”
Hamas, meanwhile, remains defiant. In a televised address, its political chief Ismail Haniyeh thanked Qatar and Egypt for mediating but vowed that “our weapons will not be surrendered.” He described the ceasefire as “a pause, not peace.”
That duality — between hope and hostility, diplomacy and defiance — defines the uncertain landscape ahead.
In Riyadh, Saudi media hailed the summit as “a turning point,” though officials stressed that any long-term peace depends on the creation of a Palestinian state.
In Tehran, the government dismissed the deal as “American theater,” accusing Trump of sidelining Iran-backed factions.
In Europe, reactions were more measured. French President Macron called the ceasefire “a fragile but necessary bridge,” while Britain’s Keir Starmer urged all parties to “lock in the peace through deeds, not declarations.”
The Arab League, meeting in parallel in Cairo, adopted a supportive stance, emphasizing reconstruction and humanitarian access.
Amid the geopolitics, individual stories punctuate the larger narrative.
In the Israeli town of Sderot, Yael Cohen, whose son was held in Gaza for 742 days, described her reunion as “a miracle.” “For the first time in two years, I can sleep without fear,” she said.
Across the border in Hebron, Amina Khateeb, whose brother was released from an Israeli prison, said the truce “feels like fresh air after suffocation.” Yet she added, “If the bombing returns, all of this will vanish.”
Their words capture the fragile emotional balance of a region caught between relief and dread — a peace built on conditions that could still collapse.
As night fell over Sharm El-Sheikh, the ink dried on the new declaration. Leaders posed for photographs against a backdrop of palm trees and the Red Sea, smiling for the cameras while aides hurriedly drafted communiqués.
Behind the stagecraft, the fundamental question remains: can this ceasefire become something more than a temporary reprieve?
Trump insists it can. “People said peace here was impossible,” he told reporters as he boarded Air Force One for Washington. “Well, we just made it possible. And it’s going to last.”
The coming weeks will test that confidence. Implementation teams from Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations are due to deploy along Gaza’s borders by the end of the month. Israeli forces are expected to complete their partial withdrawal within 45 days. Humanitarian convoys will resume daily crossings into Gaza City. And talks on Gaza’s governance — perhaps the most sensitive of all — are set to begin in November.
Whether this process leads to a permanent peace or merely another pause in a decades-long conflict will depend on choices made in the months ahead — by Israel, by Hamas, and by the world powers that now claim to guarantee their restraint.
